A great time to be out on the freshwater.Wayne Dubois | First Published: November 2007

This is a great time to be on the water. The days are long, it is generally warm but not hot and the fishing is normally sensational.

Blowering Dam has fished really well over the past couple of months and should continue so this month, especially for good numbers of golden perch/

Worms and yabbies are good baits this month as they start to move off the edges and into slightly deeper water.

Lure casting has been awesome but should start to slow down a little. Spinnerbaits and lipless crankbaits have been the main takers although there have been a few caught on suspending hardbodies and plastics when the fish have been finicky.

Trolling in 3m to 7m is another good way to target the slightly deeper goldens with the best lures the locally made Stuckeys, Storm Hot ’n’ Tots, No 3 StumpJumpers and TN70 Jackalls.

As the majority of the goldens move off the edges, redfin take their place and can be caught on just about anything this month. Casting small spinners like Celtas, Rooster Tails and the like is a good way of catching quite a few fish.

Small plastics in white, pink or red or a combination of these are also worth a chuck. Worms, maggots or really small yabbies should also get you a feed of redfin.

Trout fishing will really start to slow this month as the water starts to warm but there have been some good trout caught by those casting rattlers for golden perch.

Not long to wait now for those diehard cod fishos, with the season less then a month away. The recent changes made to cod size limits and set line use are going to benefit the cod in our dams and rivers and also anglers, who should see a noticeable size increase of the fish they catch. It is a step in the right direction to increase the size limit to 55cm for the coming season and 60cm in 2008. All we need now is a slot system with a maximum size limit of, say, 80cm so that our big breeders can do just that.

Until this happens it is up to individuals what they want to do with a big fish. Most people know that these big natives are full of fat aren’t worth eating so do they take a few photos and release.

Or they kill it for bragging rights and show it off at the local pub. Unfortunately there are plenty of egotistical fishos out there who kill every big fish they catch and the introduction of a slot system would take the decision-making out of the hands of these types and hopefully deter these meatheads from even bothering to fish.

TUMUT RIVER

It’s hopper time on the Tumut River. Our little winged friends have started popping up already and the trout are gorging themselves on the tasty critters. Bait drifters will do really well this month with unweighted hoppers or PowerBait. You can’t buy grasshoppers in many tackle shops these days so you have to catch your own each day. Trying to catch these fast insects in the middle of the day is almost impossible but if you get up early enough, you can catch them very easily because the dew restricts their ability to fly.

Lures that have the profile of a grasshopper will definitely get the trout’s attention, as will flashy lures with gold blades like Rooster Tails or Celtas worked fairly fast in the top metre of water.

Fly fishing is normally very good this time of the year because there is a lot of surface action. It pays to experiment with size a little but big hopper-pattern dries normally work best at the end of Spring.

I also like to run an olive, brown or black nymph dropper off my big hopper fly and in the really high flows I run a couple.

The other big fish taking technique is to run a Glo Bug and a nymph or two along fast-flowing rocky bottoms. This can be done with a fly rod or ultra-light spin gear with the aid of a split shot sinker or two to keep you near the bottom.

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On his very first visit, Ash Barber got to see just how good a mixed fishery Blowering Dam is.

Most fish are active this month and even the hybrid carp resident in Blowering will hit lures, including spinnerbaits.